The exemplary embodiments relate generally to weighing apparatus having a user interface. More specifically, the exemplary embodiments relate to weighing apparatus having at least one operator interface, which may be adapted to display a message to an operator.
Weighing apparatus are well known. Presently, weighing apparatus are used in a variety of applications. For example, weighing apparatus may be used in retail and industrial applications. One exemplary retail application may be at a grocery store, such as in the grocery's deli, bakery, meat department or produce department. The weighing apparatus used in these applications may be capable of weighing a product and displaying the weight, unit price, total price and other information associated with the product. Such weighing apparatus may have a user interface that may allow the operator to perform one or more actions. These actions may include printing labels, looking up a price, looking up a PLU, overriding a transaction, voiding a transaction, administering to the weighing apparatus and other similar actions.
Currently, there is not an effective way of communicating information with operators of the weighing apparatus, for example, employees of a grocery store. Examples of information that may be communicated to users may include price changes, product additions, product recalls, product relabelling, instructions to employees and any other similar information. Presently, this information may be communicated through telephone calls, paper announcements on employee bulletin boards and/or intranet websites. These methods each have their own shortcomings. For example, telephone calls may or may not be answered due to the operators assisting customers; bulletin boards may or may not be reviewed by operators and if they are reviewed may not be reviewed on a timely basis; and intranet websites may not be viewed due to the fact that a separate personal computer must be utilized, which may not be in the same location as the weighing apparatus. Furthermore, each of these methods requires the operator to be away from the weighing apparatus to review the message. Having the operator away from the weighing apparatus means the operator is not available to assist customers, which may lead to unhappy customer and loss of sales.
The exemplary embodiments described below attempt to overcome or reduce these problems. The exemplary embodiments may be directed to a weighing apparatus. The weighing apparatus may have a platform that may to receive an object to be weighed and an operator display associated with the platform. A user interface, having a plurality of areas, at least one of the areas being a message area, may be presented on the operator display. A device may be connected to the weighing apparatus and may send a command to the weighing apparatus. The command may cause a message to be displayed in the message area of the operator display. This allows the operators to receive important messages at the weighing apparatus, so that they may remain near the customer. The messages may also be more likely to be seen since the operator spends a large amount of their time in front of the weighing apparatus and operator display.